Christ's Love Compels Me

So much is going on in and around me. I am preparing to leave to visit 100 orphans in Sierra Leone Africa and I am so excited to be with them again I can hardly stand it! They have become part of our family and I have become part of theirs. With all of the last minute preparations I feel anxiety trying to rise up and non-eternal things to dominate my thoughts. I decided to fight this battle with worship and time in His Presence this morning. Is Isaiah it says the man whose mind is fixed on Him is kept in perfect peace. So I am asking Him to consume my thoughts!

I had the joy of helping host a baby shower yesterday for a precious single mom with 3 children and one on the way. She is a new christian and had only a handful of friends she knew to invite. I thought of Jesus throwing a party and going into the streets to invite anyone who would come sit and dine with him enjoying His fellowship. I invited all the friends I knew to come love on my sweet friend. I invited them not because they knew her but because they loved her, not even having met her, with a love that flowed from Christ living inside of them. And to my surprise MANY of them came. Several pockets of them did not even know each other. It was a beautiful display of the parties Christ throws for us in different seasons of our lives!

As I talked with Shannon later that evening she told me how darling my friends were and how sad she was that none of her friends came. I was able to share with her that God sets the lonely in families. When our old friends do not follow us into our new life in Christ, He has a new family waiting for us with open arms. My friends are now instantly her friends because we are part of the same spiritual family! She expressed sadness over the little girl growing in her tummy not having a dadddy. Again, I was able to share with her that HE is a Father to the fatherless. He will also be a father to her children through my husband and other men in the body of Christ. We will help raise her children.

When I went to stay in an orphanage in Sierra Leone, Africa for the first time almost 3 years ago, I went out of sheer obedience. I have returned the other 6 times because Christ's love for orphans and widows compels me!

There are MANY single moms right here in our own country, communities and churches whose children do not have fathers who are supporting them financially, emotionally or leading them spiritually. These single moms are some of our American widows. Children whose daddy's leave and pay little or no attention to them are our American orphans. God has called us to care for them in a special way so those children will grow up knowing how much He loves them and has not forgotten them. Also so these moms will know Jesus as their husband. I believe He has called us to take these moms and their children into our families, homes and hearts so they will not be lonely and left out.

This is what Jesus does with us. We are all orphaned, widowed, and lonely until we give our lives to Him and He brings us into His family. Ultimately Jesus is our Husband, we are His bride. He is our Father. No matter how great of an earthly daddy we have, he will never compare to our perfect Father in heaven who our soul longs to have fellowship with.

I was raised by a single mom. I had a dad who was never around...still isn't. My brother's dad was never around either. He still has never met him. I was not raised in a Christian home. My brother and I did not grow up learning about Jesus and His love and care for us. My brother and I went down a long road of pain and destruction and watched my mom do the same before I gave my life to Christ in 1996 and my mom shortly after...and then my brother shortly after that.

Now we all love the Lord and go to church and worship Him together. But I can't help but wonder how different things might have been if the body of Christ would have reached out to my mom and her little family in those early stages and drew us into His spiritual family. Now please understand I am not complaining because to have one day with the Lord is better than none! We had a long legacy of addiction, abuse, crime, and more in my family. Now my mom, brother, uncle, cousin, and our families worship together every week. We all lived in deep darkness and were brought into His wonderful light! Now we are leaving our children behind a godly heritage filled with the goodness of the Lord! But this drives me on to want to see His freedom in other people's lives who have a legacy of the hurt and pain of sin. It drives me to want to be used as an instrument in the hand of our mighty God to bring about lasting change where there has been devastation!

I have had the joy of watching my husband be a father to many children, not just the 3 I carried in my womb. He has said yes time after time when I have asked to bring people into our home to live with us. Some he had never even met. May more and more men in the church also rise up in the name of Christ and be a father to the fatherless. May we come along side the lonely and hurting and be Jesus to them. May we bring them into our families and show them how much God loves and cares for them with our actions and our words!

So as I get ready to go be a mommy to sweet African children in Sierra Leone, may I not forget all those who need love and support here in America when I return. And I APPLAUD the MANY I see BEING Jesus with me. Your example spurs me on. Thank you body of Christ! I am so blessed to be a part of such an amazing spiritual family!